New Articles (Page 109)
To stay up to date you can also follow on Mastodon.
๐ A Fire Upon the Deep
A Fire Upon the Deep is a 1992 science fiction novel by American writer Vernor Vinge. It is a space opera involving superhuman intelligences, aliens, variable physics, space battles, love, betrayal, genocide, and a communication medium resembling Usenet. A Fire Upon the Deep won the Hugo Award in 1993, sharing it with Doomsday Book by Connie Willis.
Besides the normal print book editions, the novel was also included on a CD-ROM sold by ClariNet Communications along with the other nominees for the 1993 Hugo awards. The CD-ROM edition included numerous annotations by Vinge on his thoughts and intentions about different parts of the book, and was later released as a standalone e-book (no longer available).
Discussed on
- "A Fire Upon the Deep" | 2022-08-07 | 17 Upvotes 5 Comments
๐ ISO Warning Signs
ISO 7010 is an International Organization for Standardization technical standard for graphical hazard symbols on hazard and safety signs, including those indicating emergency exits. It uses colours and principles set out in ISO 3864 for these symbols, and is intended to provide "safety information that relies as little as possible on the use of words to achieve understanding." It is distinct from the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals specified by the United Nations to standardise hazardous material classification and labelling.
As of Augustย 2019, the latest version is ISO 7010:2019. This revision incorporates all previous corrigenda, as well as incorporates water safety signs and beach safety flags previously specified in (the now-withdrawn) ISO 20712.
Discussed on
- "ISO Warning Signs" | 2022-08-03 | 81 Upvotes 53 Comments
๐ The โRecessionโ Affair
Discussed on
- "The โRecessionโ Affair" | 2022-08-03 | 29 Upvotes 11 Comments
๐ China's Final Warning
"China's final warning" (Russian: ะะพัะปะตะดะฝะตะต ะบะธัะฐะนัะบะพะต ะฟัะตะดัะฟัะตะถะดะตะฝะธะต) is a Russian proverb meaning a warning that carries no real consequences.
๐ Disneyland with Death Penalty
"Disneyland with the Death Penalty" is a 4,500-word article about Singapore written by William Gibson. His first major piece of non-fiction, it was first published as the cover story for Wired magazine's September/October 1993 issue (1.4).
The article follows Gibson's observations of the architecture, phenomenology and culture of Singapore, and the clean, bland and conformist impression the city-state conveys during his stay. Its title and central metaphorโSingapore as Disneyland with the death penaltyโis a reference to the authoritarian artifice the author perceives the city-state to be. Singapore, Gibson details, is lacking any sense of creativity or authenticity, absent of any indication of its history or underground culture. He finds the government to be pervasive, corporatist and technocratic, and the judicial system rigid and draconian. Singaporeans are characterized as consumerists of insipid taste. The article is accentuated by local news reports of criminal trials by which the author illustrates his observations, and bracketed by contrasting descriptions of the Southeast Asian airports he arrives and leaves by.
Though Gibson's first major piece of non-fiction, the article had an immediate and lasting impact. The Singaporean government banned Wired upon the publication of the issue. The phrase "Disneyland with the death penalty" came to stand internationally for an authoritarian and austere reputation that the city-state found difficult to shake off.
Discussed on
- "Disneyland with Death Penalty" | 2022-08-01 | 230 Upvotes 222 Comments
๐ Fresnel Integral
The Fresnel integrals S(x) and C(x) are two transcendental functions named after Augustin-Jean Fresnel that are used in optics and are closely related to the error function (erf). They arise in the description of near-field Fresnel diffraction phenomena and are defined through the following integral representations:
The simultaneous parametric plot of S(x) and C(x) is the Euler spiral (also known as the Cornu spiral or clothoid).
Discussed on
- "Fresnel Integral" | 2022-07-30 | 56 Upvotes 23 Comments
๐ Superman 64
Superman: The New Superman Adventures, commonly referred to as Superman 64, is an action-adventure game developed and published by Titus Interactive for the Nintendo 64 and based on the television series Superman: The Animated Series. Released in North America on May 31, 1999, and in Europe on July 23, 1999, it is the first 3D Superman game.
In the game, Lex Luthor has trapped Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and Professor Hamilton in a virtual reality version of Metropolis that he created with the help of Brainiac, leaving it up to Superman to save them and break apart the virtual world. The game shifts between outdoor levels where the player flies through rings while saving civilians, and indoor levels where the player looks for access cards, activates computers, and fights villains such as Brainiac, Mala, Metallo, Darkseid, and Parasite.
The development of Superman began in 1997 and was largely hampered by constraints between Titus and the game's licensors, Warner Bros. and DC Comics, leaving little room for polishing the gameplay. BlueSky Software attempted to redo the game for the PlayStation, but this version was ultimately canceled, as Titus's license with Warner Bros. had expired by the time it was completed. With three E3 presentations and positive press coverage before its release, Superman 64 was released to strong sales and positive consumer reception; however, critical reviews were extremely negative, claiming it to be one of the worst video games ever made and panning its unresponsive controls, technical flaws, repetitive gameplay, overuse of distance fog, and poor graphics.
Discussed on
- "Superman 64" | 2022-07-28 | 42 Upvotes 24 Comments
๐ Black MIDI
Black MIDI is a music genre consisting of compositions that use MIDI files to create a song or a remix containing a large number of notes, typically in the thousands, millions, billions, or even trillions. People who make black MIDIs are known as blackers. However, there are no specific criteria of what is considered "black"; as a result, pinpointing the exact origin of black MIDI is impossible.
Discussed on
- "Black MIDI" | 2022-07-28 | 234 Upvotes 86 Comments
๐ Wikipedia is currently in an edit war over the definition of recession
Discussed on
- "Wikipedia is currently in an edit war over the definition of recession" | 2022-07-29 | 61 Upvotes 61 Comments
๐ Aztec Diamond
In combinatorial mathematics, an Aztec diamond of order n consists of all squares of a square lattice whose centers (x,y) satisfy |x| + |y| โค n. Here n is a fixed integer, and the square lattice consists of unit squares with the origin as a vertex of 4 of them, so that both x and y are half-integers.
The Aztec diamond theorem states that the number of domino tilings of the Aztec diamond of order n is 2n(n+1)/2. The Arctic Circle theorem says that a random tiling of a large Aztec diamond tends to be frozen outside a certain circle.
It is common to color the tiles in the following fashion. First consider a checkerboard coloring of the diamond. Each tile will cover exactly one black square. Vertical tiles where the top square covers a black square, is colored in one color, and the other vertical tiles in a second. Similarly for horizontal tiles.
Knuth has also defined Aztec diamonds of order n + 1/2. They are identical with the polyominoes associated with the centered square numbers.
Discussed on
- "Aztec Diamond" | 2022-07-28 | 70 Upvotes 19 Comments